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Absolutely, but if I had to rank Open Source projects by "enjoyment level to work on", I would rank a 10+ year old Java project primarily used by enterprise com

Absolutely, but if I had to rank Open Source projects by "enjoyment level to work on", I would rank a 10+ year old Java project primarily used by enterprise companies quite low on my list! Compare that to something like Bun.js[0] which is "sexy" and written in a "cool" programming language (Zig). Or Wasp[1] which is built with Haskell and is trying to define a new programming language designed to make common dev patterns less painful. Those projects are naturally going to soak up smart people that have extra energy to share because they hate their day job but need to pay their bills. (imo) Who is left that wants to bang their head against a legacy codebase like Log4j? Maybe somebody that feels there is "clout" to be had from it? (Spitballing here, I honestly don't know!) 0: https://github.com/oven-sh/bun https://github.com/oven-sh/bun 1: https://github.com/wasp-lang/wasp https://github.com/wasp-lang/wasp

pdntspa 4y ago
I imagine that someone who is good at that style of Java might enjoy the challenge of working on it, particularly if they are already familiar with the codebase. There are a LOT of Java SWEs floating around...
- dec0dedab0de 4y ago
  I bet a big chunk of them have contracts that prevent them from contributing to open source. Atleast without going through a painful vetting process that drains all the enjoyment from it.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Usually that does more than drain enjoyment, but tarpits it to the point it won’t happen - and is only to be a trap for employees so they think it’s an option.
di4na 4y ago
As someone that has done and keep doing this in other niche... There are people that like to clean messes and make people life better from the shadows. These tend to be called engineers. You may be interested in https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...

pdntspa 4y ago

I imagine that someone who is good at that style of Java might enjoy the challenge of working on it, particularly if they are already familiar with the codebase. There are a LOT of Java SWEs floating around...

dec0dedab0de 4y ago
I bet a big chunk of them have contracts that prevent them from contributing to open source. Atleast without going through a painful vetting process that drains all the enjoyment from it.
- lazide 4y ago
  Usually that does more than drain enjoyment, but tarpits it to the point it won’t happen - and is only to be a trap for employees so they think it’s an option.

di4na 4y ago

As someone that has done and keep doing this in other niche... There are people that like to clean messes and make people life better from the shadows. These tend to be called engineers. You may be interested in https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/ https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...